A Magnificent Cathedral in a Cave

This should probably be listed as the eight wonder of the world! On the day of our presentation our ingenious host sent his driver to take us to a most incredible sight! It’s hard to even describe. Someone decided that after the caverns of a nearby enormous salt mine had been mined, it should be recycled for something useful. Thousands of faithful workers must have spent who knows how long to create something truly unique in all the world as a way to honor the life of Jesus to create an amazing underground cathedral. It sounds so strange until you are actually there.

Just before you enter the mine, there is a small amusement park for the kids and this quite incredible climbing wall. What an idea!

Here is the entrance to the mine:

As you walk along the vast corridors there are openings that depict the last week of Christ’s life with different positions of marble crosses placed to illustrate the event.

This is cut out in the stone to signify an empty cross.

This goes on and on until you reach the bottom of the cave which is even more spectacular.

An angel signifies the resurrection and an enormous cathedral with benches which seat hundreds of worshippers appears before your eyes. 

It was so dark that there is no way to do this amazing scene justice but that cross in the background is solid marble and is an amazing 100 feet high. The rough rock is cut out to reveal the marble behind. 

In the floor in front of the cross is a depiction of Michaelangelo’s famous centerpiece from the Sistine Chapel. If you look carefully you can see us standing behind it.

The columns on the sides of the cathedral are simply gargantuous!

What an amazing sight and a perfect place to be just before “Holy Week” which is what the Colombians call the week before Easter. I have so many questions. Who thought of this idea? How in the world were dedicated workers able to carve this monument to the life of and death of Jesus Christ by hand?  How long must that have taken?  And so many more.

In the end we just have to be grateful that we saw this amazing sight. It could truly be called the Eighth Wonder of the World!